RAMALLAH, Monday, April 6, 2020 (WAFA) – With 20 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Palestine yesterday, the three Palestinian Arabic dailies highlighted on their front page this issue.
The papers said the new cases are mainly family members of Palestinians who recently returned to their West Bank homes from their workplaces in Israel and who had tested positive for the disease but not before interacting with their families and friends.
While al-Quds said the number of total cases yesterday was 20, after three new cases were confirmed by midnight, al-Ayyam and al-Hayat al-Jadida had the number in their main front-page story at 17 and said that the Palestinian Authority closed the town of Beitunia, near Ramallah, and Tulkarm hospital after infected cases were reported in these two places.
The papers also reported on their front page on the pandemic in neighboring Israel and the world in general.
They also said that Palm Sunday was a quiet event yesterday in the Holy Land as people were absent from the annual procession that would normally start on the Mount of Olives in occupied East Jerusalem and reach the Church of the Holy Sepulcher inside Jerusalem’s Old City, the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ.
The three papers also highlighted Israeli measures against Palestinian activists in occupied Jerusalem who want to help their community combat coronavirus outbreak.
They said Israeli police detained the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem governor Adnan Ghaith and several other people who were trying to provide assistance in their communities in light of the failure of the Israeli authorities to do that.
They also said that as part of its efforts to turn occupied Jerusalem into a totally Jewish city, Israel is planning to build an underground railway to reach Al-Aqsa Mosque and Silwan neighborhood.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida published an opinion piece for the head of the Palestine Investment Fund, Mohammad Mustafa, regarding the impact of coronavirus on the economy.
It said the Minister of Economy has banned entry of used Israeli goods into the West Bank.
It also said President Mahmoud Abbas has pardoned 125 convicts.
Al-Ayyam said the Investment Fund transferred $10 million to the Palestinian treasury.
It said the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, telephoned Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh to praise his government’s anti-corona efforts.
Al-Quds said Israelis attacked and injured Palestinians in West Jerusalem.
It said that according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, half of the Palestinian society are children under 18 years of age.
It said Jerusalem hospital have thanked Bank of Palestine for its contribution and that Arab Palestinian Investment Company (APIC) has donated $800,000 to the government’s anti-corona efforts.
The papers quoted the Palestinian Anesthetists Association saying that the locally produced ventilators are air pumps and harmful.
M.K.
